Snow in Placerville

We have had the most snow Placerville has seen in 20yrs..  Nearly 2ft of snow. Our power was off most of the day yesterday and the stores where out of supplyes everyone was stocking up.. We had to dig our steep driveway so we could get to the store and help other brothers and sister who were running out of fire wood. 24 hours later some are still without heating and power. As we are in town we have our power on first. Lots of trees and power lines come down. In fact walking back from a neighbours last night one snaped and came down in front of me..

Here are some news reports.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfOw2IFkZhE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luo2u2BJqj0

Work !,,but oh how much fun.

I have finally started to find paying work. Its sporadic but here's hoping it will build up in time and with Jehovah's blessing.


My first source of income is teaching Art to adults and Children privately. I have one student called Braden who is 9 and a very good drawer.. Im loving it. I have another potental student who is a lady in her 50s I just need to set a date.

The project im very excited about is Shabby Chic Furniture. A sister rents a room in a Shabby Chic shop and has her furniture in it.. She has asked me to team up with her and she will put my furniture in there too.. Last night we went to the shop and re decorated the room.. We added my furniture and had a blast. Im loving this process. In fact I found a set of drawers for $5 did my magic to them and love them so much they are now my first piece of bedroom furniture..(below)


This part of her room in the shop below you can see a Jewelry box I made Shabby chic its on the left of the table.

A close up of the Jewelry box

This is the center of the room which I helped design. On the wall behind the light are my Headboard and Mirror set.



This is by the enterence the love heart sign is mine i found it cleaned it up and did the writing on it


This is a better view of the Headboard and mirror I did the designs on them.

Below on the desk is a small set of drawers I did all the detailing including the knobs

A close up of the small drawers

A close picture of the Jewelry box on the desk

Sick Day and Watching the Storm

Today I woke up with the beginings of a sore throat and a head cold so I decided to stay at home rest and cook good food. This sick day is much needed.

Another cool thing about today is its stormy.. Coming live from my porch amidst the down pour.. yes pple my first live blog... The rain is pouring the wind is....... well not so bad but the rains never stops.. We are at the bottom of a hill so all the rain water runs down the hill and into our little stream outside our house I have pics .. see below.. The cold air has penitrated my hoodie and I feel damp. But thats partly because I ran around taking pics for you guys and got wet.. Tootsie is under my blanket keeping warm..

I love this weather it reminds me of home. Which I miss very much folks, but ill be back before I know it and pining for the Californian mountains..


Back inside now.. my nose is running and the warmth is welcoming..



Above is the footbridge outside our house covered in ivy... and rain.


Rain coming down the hill pouring into little stream

Me keeping warm outside watching the storm.

Tuesday Blues

Sherman had surgery yesterday so I have canceled today. He had a big blood sack on the floppy part of ear due to scratching and bursting a blood vessel. His ear is full of stitches and im not sure if your aware but Boxers ears are really floppy and Sherman shakes his head around alot, and scratches at his ears alot. At the moment he is wearing a sock on his head to keep his ear in place. Now its Tuesday and its time to take the dressing off and clean the ear.. OH yes thats my job..

So I remove the dressing which is caked with dry blood and have to soak his ear in wit hot towels. Sherman is skittish esp as his ear is tender, so getting him to just sit still and not shake his head is a huge ordeal, finally he does. I soak the ear for about 5 mins and gently clean it. I allow Sherman to get up and the first thing he does is shake his head vigoursly. Blood splatters the walls and me. I scream "Sherman, STOP" but he doesnt understand what he is supposed to stop doing, shaking his head is normal for him.

Now i have to repeat the proceedure and find a way of stableing the ear.. I have tube socks Ihave had to wear for a sprained ankle and we have non sticky pads for large cuts and bruises. A ha! brilliant. See photo for finishes product. It works as long as he doesnt shake his head too much. It has fallen out twice but I think ive secured it enough.. Poor Sherman looks so sad.

We think we have new home for him, some people are coming tomorrow, she has run a rescue shelter for dogs in the past and was looking for a adult boxer as a companion and guard dog. She knows sherman has had surgry but still wants him now. It cost us $391 to have his ear taken care of. London seems very far off right now.

Im home playing doctor, I have laundry up to my eyes and the housework to do.. Pants day blah. Yesterday I played tennis and got on with a Shabby Chic project, Im involved with a sister who has a spot in a Shabby Chic shop. Ill post some photos of what im doing. Im really excited, we basicly take furniture strip it down and paint it white and distress it so it looks Shabby. Or we take found objects as the bed head and mirror below and we make it unique and sell it for BUCKS. lol
Above is our first finished piece. We took a bedhead and mirror and added our design to make it one of a kind . Cost $2.50 Sell $150 -200

Above is an old jewllery box that we are spraying white then we are going to distress it and sell it for lots of money. Cost $8 Sell for $45-50


Above is a small chest of drawers ive sprayed white. Im gonna add cute knobs like crystal ones and the red love heart ive re sprayed as it was really water damaged and im going to add scroll writing.. Like "home is where the heart is" or somthing like that.. Cost $4 for both sell for $20 -25 each

This is what im working on now. Found this cool lamp for $5 its heavy, solid and it works. Im making Ruffles with the materail below and im going to glue them on the lamp see image below for how it will look.
This is how the ruffles will look. Got this project off a blog on here called "ruffles and stuff" very cool blog.


Im also being hounded by Tootsie today she has an obsession with my Tennis balls. She love to go fetch and wines like a kid if i do not throw it for her. She follows me all around the house and drops it my feet making a whineing sound..
These dogs are like having kid the good part we can leave them in the house alone and wont get arrested. However they do trash it occasionly.


So time to start house work... Ugh!

My first High School football game

Placervilles local high school is called El Dorardo High School and the foot ball team is called the COUGARS. The colour of the team is blue and white. It was home coming 2 weeks ago and the whole town partied. They had a parade and Big football game and the home coming dance. Its not just a highschoolers thing the whole town gets involed even Alumi ( Those who went to the school years before..)


I was excited to see real cheerleaders and a real football game and real americam high school kids.. Im going to try not to rank about kids today, even tho they all look really silly in thier tight pants the boys all have really pretty hair that i would assocate with surfer dudes but now has crossed the boarders into 80s/surfer/indie style.. I cant talk I was growing up in the eighties and looked just as peculieur as they do. But on to the more important things.. Photos of the football game. To be honest not meany people watch the game its more of a socal event. Kids sittng on one side of the steps the band in the middle and the adults on the other. I sat with the kids as i wanted the real feel of being at high school. Not much has changed..

I walked around using my Englishness as a advantage, it works when i play it up and spent the eveing saying. Im From the UK can I take ure photo. They ate it up, with screams of OOOO im going to England. LOL..




The El Dorardo COUGARS... Butts lol... i couldnt get close enough to get decnt photo.

Two high school fans

Food at the football game was awesome, thier hot choc was better than starbucks and only 50c. they had fresh steak sandwiches.. fresh off of the BBQ

This is a band member.. They are considered kinda geeky..

This is the band for the school its really big and plays through most of the game, it really adds to the atmosphere and during half time they get on the field and become a marching band.

Ok I mentioned above that being in band is kinda geeky. Well these girls embodie Dorkdom.. They couldnt make the cheerleading team so they kinda dance in front of the marching band holding flags. The great thing is they are all totaly confident in their costumes which i belive they made them selves. So i say more power to you girls keep rocking it !!

These are the two senior cheerleaders.. very happy girls and this is thier last year they are about to graduate.

The cheerleaders in action see the two seniors on the boxes, thats the priviledge they get as seniors but the head cheerleader is the tall girl with red hair at the front

The crowd at the football game

I managed to find the King and Queen of home coming.. Like prom in a way I guess. Notice my friend Kristy between them . lol

They game in action... Oh and THe COUGARS won wooo hoo

Wendy and Scotts Anniversary..

Our best friends. Scott and Wendy celebrated their 12 anniversary last month and Kristy and I threw them a party. We love them to bit and they are so supportive of us. We just want them to know how much we love them and appreciate them.

We brought them gifts, and decided that the guys would buy scott a gift and the girls would get Wendys gift.

Kristy and I went to TJ maxx and I had an aphifany! Wendy had admired my ministry bag and asked if i would mind her getting the same one. It was only$20 and something she wanted. But when we went to store, there were no more! argh!!! we searched high and low but none. Then low and behold kristy pulled out the same bag as mine it was bright red shiny croc instead of brown leather like mine. HMmmm to bling for me but Wendy, no problem she could pull this bag off. In the words of a a young friend from way back. " The bag would ware me, I wouldnt wear the bag". We ended up getting Wendy a whole pioneer kit. Hot thermos, cold thermos, lunch bag, tupperware and chocs for those tough days.

The boys brought Scott a very good Scotch. Men are so easy to please.

It turned out that the party was themed red and white, the menu Sausage and mash. ( our friends are obsessed with the brits and scotts)

Here are the pics from the party.

This was the arrangement I set up, red and white the theme.

Table and all important champers

I brought hats for everyone. The girls got Tiaras and the boys got a cow boy hat, a knights helmet and a firemans hat.

Pressy table and the a german chocolate cake... well done cody he picked it out

Scott and Wendy the couple of night swapped hats.

Bangers and Mash... Yum

Aww after 12 years they still cant get enough of each other

Scotts gife was a fine bottle of Ardbeg ... like drinking a smoky stick.. so good

Ganiene came and found a bottle of lemon chello..

Wendy cutting the cake

Cody laughing.. this picture captures them perfectly

Scott in is scottish accent.. you have to hear him..being a Umish man

A good night had by all, good food. good company and plenty to drink..

BART - Down Town SF and Welcome to the Polamor Hotel

Somethings changed and i have a feeling its me!! It seems ive gone soft.. Country living will do that to you. How do I know ive gone soft? A 30 min ride on the BART - Bay Area Rapid Transit was all i needed and suddenly i wanted to be back safe and sound in my little town of placerville, were people say hello to you in the street, wave at you from thier cars and when you go shopping staff help you carry your bags to your car and want to know how your day is going.

We decided to save some money, park the truck at a train station out side the city and catch the train into the city. We save money on parking, which can cost from $14 to $50 for 24hrs, and we save on gas. As soon as we were on the platform waiting I start to feel uncomfortable. Aaron goes back to the ticket station to ask a question and I stay on the platform with our cases.. Right away I notice a undesireable person, weldressed but he was starting to invade my personal space. Aaron comes back and he walks away mumbleing... The platfrom fills up with an eclectic array of people. No different from London, but its been over a year and Ive only been surrounded by middle class white folk..

In London I was used to being on guard and had a 6th sence, street wise I suppose. Now days my guard is down and it was strange having to put it back up again..

We got on our train and got a seat. the train wasnt that full.. Until we had to change and got closer into the city.. We walked across the platform in a crowd of people and no seats.. Its ok we stand and its like a typical underground train in London.. We have people talking to loudly. Young lads on thier mobiles taking pictures of everyone. A drunk wondering up and down the train, and a bunch of youths walking the train intimiadating.. Id have taken a picture if I thought I might not be asking to be mugged..
We made it and happly left the crowded carrage, followed the crowed and and emgerged to the cool night San Francisco air.


We only had to walk 2 blocks to our hotel. Hotel Palomar our Haven from the city. All the smells hit me at once it was just like being in Leicester Sq in London. The sent of homeless people, urine, booze and cigarettes. It hit me like a wall.. Ugh! I hadnt had these sensations for a while and I didnt miss them at all.

Our Hotel was modern and welcoming the room spacious and comfy.. yes!! This is our room.. its exaclty the same as the one we are in but we are on the 7th foor so the view is different.

Once we settled in we went for dinner and a beer, Aaron took me to Lefty O Douls a Irish Pub/Piano lounge there was a guy singing on the piano behind the photographer and to the left you can see the carvery type deal.. Well its basicly like school dinners.. I liked but its not top quailty, i had beef, mash and stuffing. Nice atmosphere, I heard welsh accents and it was nice and low key.

After dinner we went for a walk, hurried past all the homeless.. and then headed back to the Hotel.. Its late now and im due a shower and bed... ZZzzzzzz nightX